Who works harder on vacation? Who takes less vacation? Who drinks more caffeine? Who sleeps the least? These conversations are common in medicine, but likely also common in many other demanding fields. The finance mavens on Wall Street work as many hours as most physicians, however their “work-life balance” doesn’t seem to be as widely…
Your loved one is having a chest pain. You call 911 — the paramedics arrive quickly. They tell you they are heading to the closest hospital, just a few minutes away, which provides care for heart attacks. Should you tell them to bypass it — take your spouse to The Ivory Tower Hospital, aka the…
My 4 year-old, Rogue Two, is the king of pre-school. He makes the same jokes with the administrator every morning as he walks by her office on the way to his class. Other children literally come to him for help with tasks and activities before asking the teacher. He knows the routines, he knows where…
Last week, I shared a guest post from an interventional radiologist who chose not to pursue a career in academic medicine. Today we’re going to discuss life in academic medicine, aka The Ivory Tower. The term “Ivory Tower” is not a compliment — it is meant to imply those inside the tower are insulated from reality, have an easier life,…
This is a guest post from VagabondMD, an interventional radiologist who I befriended through The InterWebs. Vagabond is sharing insights into what led him away from academic medicine, aka The Ivory Tower. Vagabond and I trained at the same institution, though at different times and in different fields. I stayed, he left. Today, read about why he…
The US healthcare system, while flush with cash, is engineered and maintained by political decisions and figures that appear morally bankrupt. Unfortunately, the only people actually going bankrupt are healthcare consumers without significant financial means or great insurance. You don’t have to google far to find zillions of stories, but here’s just one from The New York…
This is a new guest post from EJ at DadsDollarsDebts. Tomorrow he’ll be hosting a new post from me on his site. When Rogue Dad and I decided to post on each other’s site I was excited but left with deciding what to publish. He has quite the deep thoughts on medicine, family, and life. I…
When I was 20 years old, I ran off the side of a mountain. I was backpacking across Europe with a close friend. We landed in Paris, bought a Eurorail pass, and made up an itinerary. We had a ticket to fly out of Rome 3 weeks later, and only tentative plans for everything in…
This discussion is something I’ve tossed around in my head for awhile. As I have gone back and forth on the topic, I decided to debate myself while I answer the question. The question of the day: Is work-life balance a real thing? If so, what is it and can it be achieved, specifically in…
I write this, aware that as a physician, I am at least at times partially complicit in the financial folly that is the U.S. healthcare system. The one which ostensibly Congress is “improving,” but which is in fact doing very little, if anything to address the myriad issues with our healthcare system (and to the…
